One of the keen visual weaknesses in American gardens is winter color and grain scheme in the dwelling landscape . We can only blame ourselves , for it is too well-heeled to succumb to the ravisher of early spring bush when we see them in April or May at the garden shopping centre . Just as they advise never to go shop for groceries while hungry , we claver our local garden shopping mall just as the snow thawing – when we are at our most vulnerable , and natural spring shrubs are like cocoa . Plus , with our yet - to - be - nasty minds all horned up over the wedge bush and tree that we saw just a few week earlier at the local spring flower show , even dogwood start out to count voluptuous . Still , who could ever resist a gorgeous early floweringRhododendron mucronulatumin March , or a Daphne … any Daphne .
The winter garden belongs to the the Heath ( Erica species ) and the Heather ( Calluna species ) . These low growing , dose loving everygreens may seem tempermental and fussy , but when institute in the proper localisation ( full Dominicus , mellow acid ) they fundamentally take charge of them selves . In what was once my parent fine , front lawn which needed to be cut , fertilise and thatch each spring and summer , I polish off the sod in an 1/8 acre and planted acid - loving shrub , a blue stone paseo and a faux , river layer complete with 3 loads of river rock and a multitude planting of grasses , native shrubs and a drift of heath and broom . This is what one sees when one drive down our route , in a normal residential neighborhood where one typically sees lawns , inflatable C. P. Snow men and livid , vinyl fences .
All of these other spring purchases leave us with rather thudding suburban area . It does n’t help that landscape architect are often not as heedful about the plant life material they prefer , or the home base owner does n’t value something strange . At risk of exposure of sounding negative , the the true is most front yard and foundation plantings consist of rough-cut bush , most of which take care their best only in the calendar month of May , away from the occaisional Nikko bluish hydrangea . We are left with the rough yellow of Forsythia and the magenta of early Rhododendron species .
Yet look at the winter colouration one can have . Many bush which carry on to their needle and foliage through the winter , transform as before long as the conditions becomes inhuman , and the display can be dramatic . Some of the fine winter colors issue forth from the plants commonly known as Heaths and Heathers . These plants , which technically are small shrubs , have needled or evergreen foliation which continue texturally interesting both during all four seasons . I never really reckon of these shrub as florescence shrub , yet many the great unwashed ideate theme only in salad days . To be honest , I never notice the floral display here in New England as the foliation is so brilliant , but if you face at these pic tight , you may see that many of these are in bud .
In the ending , it ’s all about the foliage and texture , and with color like this , which may last all wintertime long , it can be fun to select salmagundi that have contrasting colors in the wintertime . It ’s not loose to always enjoin from a summer purchase what colour your broom will change once it gets cold , but with a small enquiry , one can get much information on - line . Go on line now … . Make a list , and ascertain it doubly ( deplorable ! ) , and then project on what plants to get next spring or fall . Most of the all right winter color will come from evergreen plant , and take the good ones will take a slight prep , which is exactly what the Doctor of the Church has ordered during these scant days of wintertime .
When combines with other plant which recrudesce impregnable colors in the winter , the outcome can be as powerful as a flower garden . Using my television camera today , I am try an experiment – editing what varieties and plants go well together by using Photoshop . These semblance are not enhanced , but by conflate some plants together on - screen , I get a unlike perspective . Of course , these plants see unlike once in the garden , with light , filth , mulch and other plants , as cropping photo can be misleading , yet if a cropped trope plant on screen , one has a good probability in reach the desire effect if one industrial plant en masse , for any plant when combined in volume , will form a pool of color in the garden – it ’s a wide-eyed scale thing . If you need a pool of gold and grey , side by side , you will have to plant more than one Au shrub . Seven , fifteen or thirty shrub together will form a large pool of gold , and then fifteen or thirty burgundy foliage plants next to the gold ones , will make the effect work in the ourdoor scale where Tree are seventy feet marvellous , and walk and other structures often go for 12 of feet .
Today I walk around the garden , get hold of some photos of various shrub and trees which , for some reason , always seem much more colorful in December than they do in September . I suppose the rival is weak now , but also , I feel that the low angle of the sun enhances the winter color many evergreen shrubs develop as the temperatures drop below freezing .
I have no genuine plan other than a clipping from an quondam horticulture magazine which I have keep on my office wall for a few years of a British garden with heading of Erica and Calluna planted on raised beds . As you could see , heather and Erica ’s do provide some of the bright color in the garden right now . I order plants from a few west coast nurseries each twelvemonth , as they are not cheap , and I have a few rules . The most of the essence rule ? Order as many of one variety as you may , for Calluna and Erica must be found in large masses to look good .
I am golden to have a highly acidulent grease here in cardinal Massachusetts , so heath , heather and Erica all thrives with little supporter from me . I do get some winter kill , and I do n’t always accompany my rule of buy works in book since often I can only afford 3 of each potpourri , especially when presented with a nursery which happens to have tons of choice varieties making selecting only a few types , as ambitious as a five twelvemonth old trying to take his three preferred jelly bean flavors . Each fall , I also try on to order a box full from the west coast – my favorite source?Digging Dog Nursery . But aside from my annual slip to the Cape , I sometimes care to get plant life at local botanic garden works sales , where often , a Heath or Heather plant company has a tabular array where members are betray their home - raise plants . This would be the best manner to get plant , for you are certain to get the right varieties hardy for your area .
Every July , when I go to Cape Cod for our family holiday , I assay to cease as local Cape Caod greenhouse , as they always carry erica which makes a fine ocean side plant , and the fact that Cape Cod is in USDA zona 7 does n’t suffer either . Sometimes , my local nurseries carry plants , but I can tell that they are trucked in from the south , and not locally grown . I also resist buying the monumental pressure heathers one sees in full blossom during the spring at places like Home Depot and Lowes . Buyers know that color sell , and in March and again in the fall . one will see heather works in full bloom at big box stores , but resist the enticement , unless you are planting these monsters as temporary plants . If you are unsure about the hardiness of a plant you are purchasing ( and this give to most any marginal bush or plant ) be certain to ask your nursery person where their plant came from , or better yet , if they propagate the plants themselves . With marginally hardy shrubs such as heath and heather , this is all important knowledge , for the plants , if spring up decent , will have filled their glasshouse container with fiberous roots which have already been wintered over ( if in a local hoop house or cold-blooded frame – that ’s hunky-dory ) , but best if planted in the fall in the northward , since spring planting may result in base balls drying out before being capable to extend roots into you local soil .
Other evergreens suddenly become the stars of the winter garden . ash grey , blueish , grayness , every tint becomes unparalleled in the winter landscape painting . Dwarf evergreens often provide the best show , but it in the main add up at a monetary value . A great cost , for the finest evergreens are either slow grow midget , or disperse from brooms ( those creepy , clustery mutate industrial plant that sometimes mold on the tips of matured evergreen in the wild ) . My rule ? You get what you ante up for when it come to evergreens , and although some prices may shock you , I can say that I have never been let down when endue in a $ 300 evergreen plant which may only be in a one congius container . Each yr , the ocular impingement adds another $ 100 to the display .
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